Lanthanide Contraction
Lanthanide contraction is responsible for:
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Lanthanide contraction results in:
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About This Question
- Subject
- chemistry
- Chapter
- classification of elements and periodicity in properties
- Topic
- lanthanide contraction
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Year
- 2025
Solution
Correct Answer:
Similar sizes of Zr and Hf
Lanthanide Contraction is the steady decrease in the size of atoms/ions of lanthanide elements from La to Lu.
- It is caused by the poor shielding of the nuclear charge by 4f electrons.
- A major consequence is that elements following the lanthanides (in the 3rd transition series) have atomic radii almost identical to their congeners in the 2nd transition series.
- Example: Zirconium (Zr) and Hafnium (Hf) have nearly identical radii (≈160 pm), making them very similar in chemical properties.
This medium difficulty chemistry question is from the chapter classification of elements and periodicity in properties, covering the topic of lanthanide contraction. It appeared in the 2025 exam.
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